Creating a new item

New Items are started by clicking Lists|Items, and at the bottom of the list, Items|New. (Click in the menu bar or Lists, and in the menu on Items. At the bottom of the list, click on the Items button then on New. ) The illustration below is from QuickBooks Pro, as is indicated by the check box for This service is performed by a subcontractor, which does not appear in plain vanilla QuickBooks. Moving through the New Item form is similar to moving in Make Deposits or Write Checks, described in Chapter 5.

Every field should be filled in (or left blank,) based on knowledge of its meaning.

Type is selected by clicking on the down-arrow to drop a list. Click on the required type. Selection of a type will change the form and its content of the item record. A Service item is a good place to start the discussion.

The various item types are discussed in detail below. Sales tax items and payroll items are discussed in their respective chapters. Parent items are not listed as a separate type.

Item Name/Number is used to pick the item from the list. It is always displayed on the view of an invoice and may be printed.

TIP

When filling in an invoice, items are pulled in from the item list. If you start to type in an item name, QuickBooks will fill in the first name that matches the letters you have typed. You may be able to set up your item names so that you can type three of four letters and bring in the item.

Subitem of, if checked, allows the item to be directly attached to a parent item. See Parent items and sub-items, below.

This service is performed by a subcontractor appears in QuickBooks Pro and allows the item to effectively be two items, one for purchase, and one for sale. The wording of this line varies with type of item.

Description is just that, text telling your customer what the item is about. The description becomes a “default” in the invoice, staying there unless and until you change it. Later changes to the description, in the item list, do not affect prior invoices, or memorized invoices.

Descriptions may run several lines, but line wrap is not predictable. Beginning with QuickBooks 5, Enter starts a new line of description. Longer descriptions may require some experimentation with the printed invoices. At the end of the print area for one line, you can press Tab several times, to get to the next line. (“Several” can vary, with invoice format.)

Rate is the unit price of the item, and may be left at zero, if it varies. Items generally show an amount on invoices. The various type of items have different ways of doing that.

Account connects the item to the opposing account of a using transaction, and is always necessary in any sales income item. Typically, an invoice itself debits Accounts Receivables, and this entry provides a credit to a sales income account.

Item is inactive began with QuickBooks 5. An entity in most lists may be made inactive. At the bottom of the list is an option to hide inactive entities. This enables displaying a shorter list, leaving out things rarely used.